Manuscripts

Charles Hoffman letter to William King

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Description: This letter written by Charles Hoffman to William King was about guano, the excrement and urine of seabirds and bats, which was just being widely recognized as an excellent fertilizer and an important source of nitrates for gunpowder and explosives. It was primarily gathered off the coast of Peru, but Hoffman, who owned many vessels that regularly traded in peanuts and palm oil with West Africa's coast, was apparently the first American entrepreneur to find a source on the island of Ichaboe, now in Namibia.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1846, April 4.
Call number: mssHM 80484
Creator: Hoffman, Charles (1797-1878)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance

Nash, Charles M. to Edwin B. Hoffman

Manuscripts

The Edwin B. Hoffman collection mostly consists of professional correspondence and records related to Hoffman's career at sea, from 1901-1921. The first series includes accounts, forms, correspondence, financial records, legal documents, photographs, and printed ephemera pertaining to his time at the United States Lighthouse Service and United States Shipping Board. Letters and telegrams detail the loss of P.J. Abler (schooner) in 1915 and the collision of Dorr (schooner) and Oklahoma (schooner) in 1916. Included is a certificate indicating Hoffman was pilot on the first torpedo flotilla aboard the United States Ship Whipple. Most of the correspondence in this series is addressed to Hoffman. The second series includes accounts, certificates, correspondence, documents, logs, manifests, and reports concerning his service as Master of Eastern Leader (steamboat) in 1921. Letters and reports detail an accident to the rudder on 1921 May 26, while undocking in Limerick, Ireland for New York. Most of the letters are typed copies retained by Hoffman addressed to colleagues and family.

mssHoffmane

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